


Love Under the Stars

by spookyawards_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Vignette, on the road
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-02-15
Updated: 2003-02-15
Packaged: 2019-04-27 06:57:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14419986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyawards_archivist/pseuds/spookyawards_archivist
Summary: Doggett and Reyes share a conversation about astrology and the myth of stars.  This story assumes a relationship between them - post-Sunshine Days or virtual tenth season.





	Love Under the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Spooky Awards](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Spooky_Awards), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [SpookyAwards' collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/spookyawards/profile).

 

Love Under the Stars

## Love Under the Stars

### by Scifinerdgrl

Title: Love Under the Stars  
Author: Scifinerdgrl  
Rating: PG  
Category: SR  
Keywords: Doggett/Reyes relationship  
Summary: For an astrology fic challenge. Doggett and Reyes gaze at the night sky and discuss their beliefs. Set after "Sunshine Days" or in a virtual tenth season. 

The case had almost solved itself. The astrologer who was accused of bilking clients out of thousands of dollars and then sabotaging them to fulfill her dire predictions confessed in exchange for a lighter sentence. Nothing paranormal, nothing alien, nothing to investigate. Case closed. 

Monica Reyes knew that John Doggett was biting his tongue, withholding his "I told you so," but it was written all over his face. "Maybe _this_ is the X-File," she suggested as she navigated their rented SUV back to the motel. "Some force in the Cosmos knew we needed some time alone," she took his hand and gave it a suggestive squeeze. "We have another two days before our flight. Away from prying eyes, away from everything." 

"Damn right we're away from everything! Too far away!" Doggett said, ignoring the romantic wishes in her eyes. "Let's take the car back and..." 

"Let's take the car out into the country," she interrupted. "Someplace secluded. It's an SUV, John..." 

He grunted. "What about dinner?" 

"The weather's beautiful, the sky is clear... We could take a blanket from the motel, get some cheese and bread from the store, and spend the evening watching the stars come out," she suggested. 

"How about we try to get a flight on stand-by and watch the stars come out from the plane?" he countered. 

"You're no fun," she said, pulling in to the motel parking lot. 

"What?" he said, mock hurt in his voice not quite hiding the real hurt beneath. "It could be romantic. We'd be closer to the stars!" 

Disappointed and not making any attempt to hide her feelings, Reyes didn't answer, and she kept quiet as she started packing her flight bag. Doggett wasn't sure what to do. He hated disappointing her. "You really wanna do that?" he asked finally. "Just go out in the middle of nowhere?" 

"Never mind," she said dejectedly. "If you don't want to..." 

Walking up behind her, he watched her face in the large mirror, and suddenly he knew what would fix things: Honesty. "Look, Mon," he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "It's not something I would have thought of myself, but that's one of the things I love about you. You think of things that would never occur to me... Fun things." For emphasis he kissed the sweet spot just behind her ear, reminding her of the night before, when she'd talked him into trying a new sexual position. 

"You mean it?" she asked, then turned around in his arms and kissed him. "It'll be fun, I promise." 

"I was right about the case, which means you'll be right about this," he whispered. "Yin and Yang, or kismet, or..." Her kiss rescued him from his paranormal fumbling, and he responded with some very normal fumbling at her blouse. 

An hour later they were spreading out the motel bedspread on the grass of the secluded meadow suggested by the desk clerk. When they were finished eating their makeshift picnic meal under the cloudless sunset, Reyes laid back on the bedspread and motioned for him to join her. He laid down next to her and exhaled loudly. "You're right. The stars are beautiful out here. I don't think I've ever seen so many!" 

"No?" she asked dreamily. 

"Not many stars in New York, even on the Island. Falls Church is only a little better," he said. "I think once when I was in the boy scouts I was probably far enough away from the city but except for finding the North Star, we didn't spend a lot of time looking at the sky." 

"So, where is it?" she quizzed. "The North Star?" 

He grunted and pointed in several directions before saying, "The bright one, over that tall tree." 

"Wrong," she laughed. "That's Orion. See? The three stars above it are Orion's belt." 

"Orion needs to lay off the beer!" he said. "His belt is a sagging." 

"The Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans and many African cultures have stories to explain that," she said with encyclopedic authority. "But I've never heard the beer story!" 

"Yeah? So Orion was buff in the old days?" he asked. 

"He was a hunter," she explained, propping herself up on one elbow to face him. "He angered Artemis, the goddess of the moon and protectress of childbirth, and she shot him with an arrow," 

"That's gotta hurt," Doggett joked. 

"In Egypt this is Osiris' constellation," she said. "He was trampled to death by a bull." 

"Ow!" Doggett yelped. 

"But his wife, who was also his sister, brought him back to life," she finished. 

"Ahhhh," he sighed. "I know how he feels." He rolled onto his side and touched her hair. "Okay, so you're not my wife and you're not my sister..." 

"Osiris also brought the Spring crops," she said shyly. "He was no slouch either." 

"Sometimes you scare me, Agent Reyes," he said. 

Blushing, she flopped onto her back and said, "Then there's the dog star, Sirius..." 

"Do I scare you?" he asked when he realized she was avoiding his advances. 

"Sometimes," she whispered. "But more often I scare me." 

"Ahhh," he said, moving toward her and lying on his back. Their shoulders were now touching, and he whispered, "You're not scary." 

"Yeah?" she chuckled. "Then why did it take you so long to..." 

"I guess I scare me too," he admitted. 

"Awww, you're not scary, either," she said. "I've done your star chart, you know." 

"I figured you had," he said. 

"It's a good chart," she assessed. "Noble." 

"That's good," he said lamely. Even though he'd studied a little astrology for their case, he had no idea of what could constitute a "good" chart. 

"And honest," she explained. "More than mine." 

"How can a star chart predict honesty?" he challenged. "You're the most honest person I know." 

As soon as he said it he realized what she must have been thinking. Withholding the story of why she'd broken off her relationship with Brad Follmer was the first and only time he'd known her to keep a secret from him. "You're honest, Monica," he said tenderly. 

"I have Saturn in the House of Love," she answered. "That means secrecy. Lies. Hidden..." 

"So you only want to be with me because we're keeping it secret?" he teased. 

"I kept it a secret from myself before that," she said. "Then before, with Brad..." she gulped. "He has Saturn in the House of Love too. I thought it meant that we were destined to be together, and that keeping it secret was something we both needed. But I was wrong." 

He looked over, studying her face but said nothing as her eyes darted from one part of the sky to the other. 

"He didn't just need to keep secrets with me, he needed to keep secrets _from_ me, and I... I..." she sighed, knowing that berating herself was unhealthy but feeling the need to do it anyway. "I lied to myself, about him, and about you..." 

"Me?" he asked. 

"Being with Brad was only partly about being with Brad. It was also my way of forgetting about you. You were just getting divorced, and you were in Washington. It wouldn't have been right..." She turned to face him. "You never knew, did you?" 

He shook his head with minuscule movements that she had no trouble picking up in the starlight. 

"And then, when I did your chart and compared it to mine..." she confessed. "I knew it wouldn't be right." 

"See?" he said. "Astrology _is_ bullshit." He smiled and reached for her hair, pushing a stray strand behind her ear. "I don't need to look at the stars to know when something's right," he said. "I see all I need to see right here." 

**THE END**   
  


#### If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Scifinerdgrl


End file.
